Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
M11C — Removes fat from the body.
Source data for narratives and traditions is drawn from Berezkin’s Analytical Catalogue. If you use this data, please acknowledge and link to it: Ю.Е. Березкин, Е.Н. Дувакин. Тематическая классификация и распределение фольклорно-мифологических мотивов по ареалам. Аналитический каталог.
Summary of motif
OverviewWithout harming himself, a male character cuts off, pierces, roasts, holds over a fire, etc. a part of his body (or his wife's body). The character cooks the meat, fat, etc. obtained in this way and treats his guest to it. This food is not perceived as unclean (cf. motifs M11B and M38).
Berezkin category: Adventures: Tricks and episodes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
M11 has 4 other sub-motifs
RelatedM11. The character gives others food extracted from his or someone else's body or contaminated with bodily secretions, without revealing the source of the food.
M11a. The character gives others the fish extracted from his body.
M11b. A woman feeds a man with good-quality meat or fat, which she cuts from her own flesh or extracts from her body, and stops doing so when he learns about the source of the food.
M11c. Without harming himself, a male character cuts off, pierces, roasts, holds over a fire, etc. a part of his body (or his wife's body). The character cooks the meat, fat, etc. obtained in this way and treats his guest to it. This food is not perceived as unclean (cf. motifs M11B and M38).
m11d. The character makes food taste good by adding salt to it. Another character learns that the cook extracts this salt from his own body (it is contained in his bodily secretions).
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| M52 | 98.32% | The character (by deception) kills an ungulates. He asks another to refresh the carcass, looks for a knife to do it, or a fire to fry the meat. The other freshens the carcass, gives fire or a knife, but takes or tries to take all the meat for himself. |
| K21A | 97.78% | A celestial being marries an earthly woman. She longs to return to earth and secretly descends from her husband. |
| F28C | 97.59% | A woman masturbates with the penis of a large animal that one of the men killed while hunting. |
| H24A | 97.04% | Opening the bag, the character releases stars that rush chaotically into the sky. |
| I105 | 96.73% | One of the constellations is associated with the hand (with five marked fingers). |
| L33F | 96.64% | A rock or boulder pursues a character. The character calls for help, and the nightjar splits the rock into pieces. |
| J39 | 96.52% | The antagonist makes the woman his slave. Other characters secretly come to her and kill a small animal or bird for her. The antagonist suspects that the woman could not have caught the game herself, but she insists that she did. |
| L1B1 | 96.37% | A woman comes into conflict with her brothers and turns into a dangerous demon. |
| M51 | 96.34% | One of the two characters gets meat. The weaker deceives the stronger one, hiding the meat in his absence to eat alone later. |
| M41 | 96.31% | The character throws his eyes (an inhaler has a tooth) up or into the distance. At first they return to the eye sockets, but then they disappear. |
See the 100 most similar distributions →
Map of motif dispersal
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Traditions
81 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 81 traditions: Dinka, Atuot, Nuer, Sanye (Aweer), Efe Pygmies, Kango (Mbuti) Pygmies, Songe (Kisonge), Bena-Matembo, Fang (Pangwe), Eton, Bafia, Batanga, Benga, Bube (Bubi), Buheba, Yaunde (Ewondo), Yebekolo, Koko, Bulu, Beti (Beti-Bulu), Sekiani, Eghap, Aka, Baka (Badjue) and other Western (Bantu speaking) Pygmies, Biu-Mandara: Margi, Kilba, Bura, Kera, Karekare (Kerri-Kerri), Bachama, Zulgo, Giziga, Hdi, Kapsiki, Mandara (incl Mukulehe, Matakam), Mofu (Mofu-Gudur), Somrai (Sibine, Shibha), Northern Gur (Oti-Volta): Mamprussi, Dagomba, Dagari (Dagara; incl Lodaga), Bassari, Mosi, Nankanse, Konkomba, Moba; Ditammari, Nyende, Bulsa (pl Builsa, Bulo), Sandawe, Swedes, Uilta (Orok), Negidal, Tagish, Inland Tlingit, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka'wakw), Nootka (Nu-chah-nulth), Makah, Bella Coola (Nuxalk), Micmac, Western Ojibwa (Chippewa), Eastern Ojibwa (Missisauga, Timagami and other groups in eastern Ontario), Northern Ojibwa (=Severn Ojibwa, Sandy Lake Cree), Menominee, Miami, Illini, Yuchi, Arapaho, Osage, Omaha, Ponca, Iowa, Arikara, Pawnee, Kiowa Apache, Plains Ojibwa, Crow, Chilkotin, Shuswap, Thompson (Nlaka'pamux), Comox, Pentlatch, Lower Chehalis, Upper Chehalis, (Lower) Cowlitz, Western Sahaptin (Upper Cowlitz, Klikitat, Tenino, Umatilla, Yakima, Wallawalla), Nez Perce, Quileute, Chemakum (Hoh), Quinault, Tillamook, Kutenai, Lower Chinook (Chinook proper), Yurok, Caddo, Natchez (incl Avoyel), Alabama, Koasati, Catawba, Tutelo, Cherokee, Wintu, Patwin, Nomlaki, Chumash, Kawaiisu, Northern Shoshone, Western Shoshone, Gosiute, Upland Yuma: Walapai, Havasupai, Yavapai, Ute, Serrano, Cahuilla, Cupeño, Navajo, Jicarilla, Chiricahua, Hopi, Western Keres (Acoma, Laguna), Tewa (San Juan, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Tesuque, Nambe; Hano), Tiwa (Taos, Picuris; Sandia, Isleta), Towa (Jemez), Lipan, Diegueño: Ipai, Tipai, Kamia (Kumeai), Yuma proper (Quechan), Mohave, Maricopa, Mayo, Yaqui, Sinaloa, Gulf Nahuatl, Wapishana (incl Ataroi); Mapidian; Taruma, Mundurucu, Curuaia, Kayabi, Kono (=Kone), Wai, Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal), Upper Chinook: Wasco, Wishram, Clackamas, Kathlamet, Liberia